Choo, Carmona lead Indians over White Sox

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CHICAGO (AP) -- It may have taken close to six months, but
Cleveland manager Manny Acta is finally getting a glimpse of
what a young Indians' roster may be capable of.

Shin-Soo Choo hit a two-run home run, Fausto Carmona pitched six
strong innings and the Indians extended their season-high
winning streak to seven games with a 7-3 victory over the
Chicago White Sox on Friday night.

The Indians are on their longest winning streak since they won
10 straight from Aug. 17-27, 2008.

"We want to finish strong. I'm not a big believer in finishing
the season well and it carrying five months down the road.
There's too much time, especially when you have to go through
spring training," Acta said. "I believe more in carrying the
momentum from spring training into the season because it's
closer when it comes to time. But it's good. It's been a long
year, a lot of young and inexperienced kids are getting an
opportunity to play here, getting the feel that they belong up
here. Getting the feel for how we want them to play up here. Our
pitching has been the key."

Carmona (13-14) won his seventh straight start against the White
Sox and has a 2.82 ERA during that stretch. He is 7-3 in his
career against the White Sox. The right-hander allowed two runs
and five hits while striking out seven with one walk.

Carmona is 2-1 with a 1.99 ERA in his last six starts overall
and he feels he has a better repertoire of pitches than he did
in 2007 when he was 19-8 with a 3.08 ERA.

"I feel very confident on the mound," Carmona said. "I'm more
happy (with 2010 season) than 2007. I throw more changeups and
sliders. In 2007 it was all sinkers."

He has not lost to Chicago since April 13, 2007.

"Carmona is always going to have good stuff as long as he is
healthy. That's one of the hardest guys to hit," White Sox
manager Ozzie Guillen said. "He's got a great sinker ball. It's
not easy to go out there against him. He's got some of the best
stuff in the game."

Brent Morel homered for the White Sox, who lost for the second
time in nine games.

Tony Pena (5-3), who took over Gavin Floyd's spot in the
rotation, allowed six runs and nine hits. Floyd was shut down
for the season after leaving his start with tightness in his
right shoulder on Sept. 20 at Oakland.

Despite his struggles on Friday, Guillen appreciated the job
Pena did out of the bullpen this season.

"I think Pena was one of the most underrated players we have.
Nobody said much about him, but in the meanwhile, when he had to
be there he did pretty good. Everytime we needed him he was
available for us," Guillen said.

Pena allowed consecutive doubles to Michael Brantley and
Asdrubal Cabrera to start the game. Then Choo homered to
right-center to give the Indians a 3-0 lead. It was Choo's 22nd
homer of the season. Since Sept. 1, Choo has 27 RBIS in 28 games
and is hitting .340.

Mark Teahen doubled with two outs in the bottom of the first and
scored on Dayan Viciedo's single. Morel led off the second
inning with a home run off the left-field foul pole. It was
Morel's third of the season.

With runners on first and second and one out in the third, Pena
intentionally walked Travis Hafner to load the bases. During
Jayson Nix's at-bat, Pena threw a wild pitch allowing a run to
score. Nix drove in a run on a sacrifice fly and Trevor Crowe
followed with an RBI single to make it 6-2.

Crowe had an RBI single in the seventh inning.

Indians reliever Vinnie Pestano allowed a two-out RBI single to
Alejandro De Aza in the ninth before striking out Brent
Lillibridge with runners on first and second.

NOTES: White Sox reliever Bobby Jenks, who has not pitched since
Sept. 2 with a sore right forearm, says he can pitch in the
final two games if needed. ... After hitting a grand slam
Thursday night, White Sox 1B Paul Konerko had the night off.